Rootballing

Driving around near Tondabayashi last month I came across these pines being rootballed. Check out the crane in the background. In the second picture you can see the strop holding the tree in position.

The black metal wrench thing they are using is to whack the rootball to get it as compacted as possible. One guy pulls on the rope while the other whacks, then the rope is passed on the to the next guy, and the puller becomes whacker. And so on.